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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26179375">Spontaneous Carnage</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/HopeCoppice/pseuds/HopeCoppice'>HopeCoppice</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Good Omens (TV), Good Omens - Neil Gaiman &amp; Terry Pratchett</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/F, Post-Almost Apocalypse (Good Omens)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-08-29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 04:40:42</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>639</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26179375</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/HopeCoppice/pseuds/HopeCoppice</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>After the Almost-Apocalypse, two beings find themselves adrift. It's a small world.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Anathema Device/War</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>GO Events - Rare Pairs</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Spontaneous Carnage</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>With thanks to the GO-Events server for sparking this little torrent of Rare Pairs.</p>
<p>This takes place in the same universe as Planned Obsolescence but they each stand alone.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>After the world doesn't end, Anathema makes some changes. She breaks things off with Newt, which he accepts without complaint, and then heads back home to tell her family they don't have to live by Agnes' prophecies any more, which they do <em>not</em> accept without complaint. As a result, part of her journey of self-discovery is a literal journey to San Francisco, where she can find herself alone.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>And she does find herself alone, in a bar hung with brightly-coloured flags and filled with cheerful, vibrant people, nursing a craft beer and wondering what sort of havoc Newt would wreak on a bar so full of fairy lights. The bartender is friendly, but busy, and Anathema realises she's sort of in the way, so she goes to look for a seat that isn't at the bar instead.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>That's when she sees her.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Sprawled across two seats in a booth, glaring at the cocktail menu as if she's trying to burn a hole in it, sits War. Her red leathers are scuffed and scorched, her hair a muted strawberry-blonde, but she is unmistakably one of the Four Horsepeople of the Apocalypse. And she looks utterly miserable.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Anathema considers walking away, either to find another seat or to leave the bar entirely, but she's run away from enough of her problems and besides, they won the fight. If anyone's going to leave, it should be War.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>She makes her way over to the booth and tries for a friendly smile.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Small world," she comments, which she thinks sounds pretty casual and not at all scared. War looks up, and for a moment it seems like she's ready for a fight. Well, of course she is. She's War. But nobody around them seems to be fighting, so maybe War's off-duty. Anathema cranks her smile up a notch. "I come in peace."</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>It's immediately obvious that that's the wrong thing to say; War bristles and Anathema holds up her hands.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Sorry, no, I don't mean- I didn't mean that as a jab at you. I just... I'm not trying to start any trouble. Just, you're here alone." She glances around; perhaps she's misread the situation. "Aren't you?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I am," War tells her warily, "you too?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Yeah. Mind if I-?" War nods, so Anathema slides into the seat opposite her. "I didn't realise how hard it would be to make new friends when I </span>
  <em>
    <span>know</span>
  </em>
  <span> how close the world came to ending and they </span>
  <em>
    <span>don't</span>
  </em>
  <span>."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Tell me about it." War scoffs. "You should try making friends when you've been around since mankind's first sibling squabble."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I can't imagine. You must have seen some incredible things."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"You wouldn't believe me if I told you." The corners of War's mouth twitched upwards slightly, as if she couldn't help herself. "You wouldn't believe even half."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Well, what do you say I buy you a drink and we find out?"</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>At that, War threw her head back and laughed, drawing more than a few interested looks from other patrons.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Why would you drink with me?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"You were there, when the world was supposed to end. You get it."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I was </span>
  <em>
    <span>part </span>
  </em>
  <span>of it," War pointed out, "made a colossal mess of my life's purpose."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Maybe you just need a new purpose, like me." Anathema reached out to cover War's hand with her own. "Maybe we both need to find our way."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Together?" War scoffed, but then some of her bravado seemed to fall away. Perhaps that was what happened when you were an eternal being who'd been defeated by children. "Sure. Why not?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Well, then." Anathema tapped the cocktail menu. "Pick something fruity, and start thinking of a story to tell. Let's see where the night takes us."</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>War smiled, really smiled, and made her selection. Anathema felt her eyes on her all the way to the bar.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
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